Yehuda Lave is an author, journalist, psychologist, rabbi, spiritual
teacher, and coach, with degrees in business, psychology and Jewish Law.
He works with people from all walks of life and helps them in their
search for greater happiness, meaning, business advice on saving money,
and spiritual engagement.
9 Things To Know Before Visiting Captivating Tel Aviv
I recently had the opportunity to chat with Dr. Christine Wilson, former education specialist at the Walworth Barbour American International School
in Israel. Wilson lived in Tel Aviv for three years while she taught at
Walworth Barbour. She loved the warm, welcoming Israeli culture; the
long and varied history of the region; the beautiful beaches; and the
tantalizing cuisine.
This intriguing cosmopolitan city has
captured the hearts of visitors who come for the food, the beaches, and
the friendly citizens who immediately treat you like family.
Here are nine things to know before visiting this captivating city on the Mediterranean coast.
1. Spring And Fall Are The Best Times To Visit
“The best time to visit is in spring or fall. The weather is beautiful, and it is not too crowded,” said Wilson.
Spring (March and April) and fall (September
through November) are the best months to visit if you are looking for
temperate weather and off-season prices. During the summer (May through
August), you’ll encounter throngs of beachgoers looking to perfect their
Mediterranean tan. The winter can be crowded as well, since it’s the
time when many Northern Europeans seek an escape from the cold.
Temperatures in Tel Aviv range from a low of 49 degrees to a high of 87
degrees, so the weather is pleasant almost all year long.
2. The Beaches Are Spectacular
There is an 8.7-mile stretch of beach along
the Tel Aviv shoreline where sun lovers and outdoor enthusiasts can walk
the long promenade, lounge on the beach, or sip a beverage at one of
the outdoor cafes.
Each of Tel Aviv’s beaches has its own flavor; there’s sure to be one that’s right for you! Check the Visit Tel Aviv beach page
for information on the more than a dozen area beaches. Keep in mind
that some beaches are limited to people of a particular gender on
certain days due to religious beliefs. As a tourist, you are expected to
respect these restrictions.
“For swimmers, riptides can be especially
dangerous on the Israeli coast, and tourists need to know the flag
system for warnings that mark the beach swimming areas and whether or
not you can go in at all,” Wilson cautioned.
Israel’s beach flag system
includes a red flag that indicates dangerous swim conditions, a black
flag that indicates swimming is not allowed, and a purple flag that
warns about jellyfish. However, when the white flag is flying, you are
free to enjoy the beautiful Mediterranean waters.
3. The Food Is To Die For
Tel Aviv is known for its bustling markets.
A must-stop foodie destination is the Carmel Market.
The vibrant market is lined with stalls offering gorgeous fruits and
veggies, spices, and other items. You will encounter tourists and locals
winding their way through the crowds, and your senses will be delighted
with the sights, sounds, and aromas. Some of Tel Aviv’s trendiest
eateries can be found at this market, too. Stop at a bakery for some
warm, cheesy breadsticks; lunch at a cafe for a kebab; and sip a locally
produced beer at a pub. You could easily spend a day here, happily
shopping and munching away.
Wilson’s favorite market, however, is the Sarona Market,
with its stalls that offer some of the finest meats, cheeses, and wines
in the city. The market’s restaurants serve up traditional and inspired
local dishes that both look and smell amazing. You will find an
eclectic selection of cuisines from the region and plenty of happy,
satisfied patrons.
Be sure to enjoy a traditional shakshuka
— creamy eggs poached in a tomato sauce flavored with olive oil,
peppers, onions, and garlic and spiced with cumin, paprika, cayenne, and
nutmeg — while you are visiting. You will remember the culinary
experience for years to come!
4. Biking Is The Best Mode Of Transportation
“I enjoyed biking in Israel. I biked to work daily — 24 miles a day on farm roads through orange orchards,” Wilson recalled.
The busy city streets and backcountry roads
of Tel Aviv are the perfect places to bike. The city makes biking easy
by providing bike lanes on all major thoroughfares. They also operate Tel-O-Fun,
a bike ride-sharing program. You’ll need to sign up for an annual
rental; however, the cost is not prohibitive if you are planning on
riding around the city for a week or more.
5. Read Up On Judaism Before You Go
Wilson recommended doing some research on Judaism before a trip to Tel Aviv.
“Judaism defines everything in Israel. Having
a basic understanding of the religion will give you insight into how
the people live and how the country operates,” she said.
For example, Yom Kippur is an important Jewish holy day.
“During this official holiday, businesses
nationwide close at noon, and there is virtually no traffic on the
streets except for emergencies. As the sun sets at the beginning of the
holiday, airports, border crossings, broadcast stations — the entire
country suspends work for about 30 hours,” said Wilson.
Visitors should note that on these holidays,
everything may be completely shut down, leaving the unprepared without
dining or transport. However, these times of celebration can also be an
opportunity for lots of fun.
It was at this time that I joined a group of enthusiastic bikers to ride from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. It was a downhill ride for most of the way on highways that were empty of all vehicles except for two- or four-wheeling bikes or skateboards,” Wilson recalled.
6. It’s A Shopper’s Paradise
Wilson emphasized that there is a shopping adventure in Tel Aviv for everyone.
The Dizengoff Center is an iconic shopping destination with a dizzying array of shops, restaurants, and entertainment options.
Shenkin Street is the place to go for the
trendiest shopping spots. Here you will find classic, high-end name
brands alongside Israeli designer boutiques. This is the place to shop
if you are looking for something out of the ordinary — something nice to
remember your Tel Aviv adventure by.
Tel Aviv’s newest shopping destination is the TLV Fashion Mall, home to other popular name-brand stores.
7. Jaffa Is Worth Exploring
Jaffa, also known as Yafo, is an ancient port
city and the oldest part of Tel Aviv. With buildings tightly packed
together, Jaffa is a tangle of narrow streets, hidden courtyards, and
small shops. The neighborhood is a mix of Jewish and Arab peoples living
and working together in harmony. You will find great restaurants
serving a wide range of Middle Eastern cuisine plus unique shops and
galleries tucked away along the passageways.
After exploring the area, find an outdoor seat at a cafe by the water, order your favorite libation, and watch the beautiful sunset for a picture-perfect evening.
8. Make Time For A Day Trip To Caesarea
Less than an hour north of Tel Aviv is
Caesarea. This historic coastal city was originally a Phoenician
settlement, and then a great Roman port city. Caesarea is known for its
archaeological dig, the remains of a hippodrome (a large Roman
amphitheater), and its beautiful historic port.
Wilson highly recommends visiting the beach area of Caesarea Maritima as well.
“There are museums, wonderful restaurants, and a beach full of Roman ruins. It’s not to be missed,” she said.
9. You’ll Love The Welcoming Culture
You’ve probably heard the Hebrew toast L’Chaim,
which translates to “To life.” Life in Tel Aviv centers on family,
friends, and celebrations. The culture is warm and inviting, and you
become part of the family as soon as the introduction is completed.
“On Friday, four of my colleagues and I would
bike back from school directly to the beach in Herzliya, where we would
cool off in the Mediterranean and then get beer and chips with hummus
at one of the beach cafes at Rainbow Beach to celebrate the beginning of
the weekend,” Wilson recalled.
Celebrating with friends over a meal is an important part of the culture in Israel.
An adventure in Tel Aviv is the trip of a
lifetime for some, and a yearly pilgrimage for many. With its beautiful
beaches, amazing cuisine, and wonderful people, the city has become a
popular destination for travelers of all ages.
RABBI BINYAMIN ZE’EV KAHANE
Parashat Dvarim
This Is Judaism, Stop Apologizing!
By western standards, the book of “Dvarim” would have to be defined as an ultra-nationalistic doctrine. Its concepts are the very opposite of liberal western concepts. Its laws are illegal by western standards. The book is based on conquest. Stressed over and over again is the uncompromising commandment to conquer the land of “Canaan” from the gentile nations who have lived there for thousands of years, and to change the name to “Eretz Yisrael”.
If this isn't enough, we are even commanded to disinherit (to expel), and if necessary to annihilate the inhabitants of the land. This is an inseparable component of the positive commandment of “settling the land”.
The Book of “Dvarim” also centers around the choseness of the Jewish Nation. The concept appears most prominently in Parashat Vaetchanan (7: 6-8), in Parashat Eikev (10:15), Parashat Re'eh (14:1-2) and almost all other parshiot of the book. This “ultra-nationalism” continues right on through to the book of Joshua and beyond.
Judaism is not a Supermarket!
We want to now delve into the “morality” of all this. We do not do so in order to make the Torah more palatable for all the non-believers and Hellenists around who simply reject the book of “Dvarim” as they do the rest of the Torah, considering it primitive and racist. Rather we direct our words to G-d fearing Jews who understand that the Jewish Nation is dependent on the Torah, want to fulfill it, and ask all the same: These are the enlightened traditional Jewish ethics and values that everyone speaks about? This is the Jewish morality we so often hear about: Conquering, expelling, chosen people?
The answer is yes. What can one do when the “traditional Jewish values” that so many Jews speak of simply do not exist! Do not exist? There is no such thing as traditional Jewish ethics and values? Of course there is! But they are something entirely different. At the core of Jewish ethics and morality setting in apart from the ethics of mortal man is the concept of the acceptance of the yoke of heaven. That is, we DO NOT pick and choose the “merchandise”. First and foremost, we accept upon ourselves the values of Hashem WITHOUT ASKING QUESTIONS. Only then do we “check the goods”. While it is true that in the world of business one does not buy until he examines the product, the mitzvot and concepts of Hashem are not a business negotiation. They must be accepted unconditionally. Thus it is written, “It is better than all other goods” - for it is a product that one does not “check” before “buying”.
Book of National Policy
The Book of “Dvarim” is the national policy guideline for the Jewish Nation. It is the morality that G-d conveys to us on subjects connected to Israeli nationalism. If someone wants to call it “ultra-nationalism”, so be it, for it is true Jewish ethics. It is not a system of values that is subject to change according to the whims of one generation or another as another passing fad, but rather it is an eternal morality that we, our fathers and our forefathers clinged to for thousands of years. This value system withstood all the passing tides of the past thousands of years, while modern western culture which evolved during the last one hundred (100) years will melt away as did its “enlightened” predecessors: Greek, Rome, Assyria, Babylon, east and west, of one generation or another...
No Guilt!
Precisely today when the sabotaging of all Jewish concepts are intensifying; at a time when the so-called “national” camp is non-existent, it is an obligation to read the parshiot in the Book of “Dvarim”, and in particular “Ekev”, to strengthen our “emunah” in these authentic Jewish concepts. We must do so in order that we, the spiritual right side of the spectrum, can speak our piece clearly, unequivocally, and without guilt: The Almighty is stronger than all the nations, and if we believe in Him and fulfill His difficult “immoral” mitzvot, so to speak, we shall overcome our enemies (both political and cultural), and re-establish the Torah Republic that we have dreamed of for 2,000 years!
These Jewish Artists Transformed Paris
Chagall, Modigliani and Soutine were just a few of the Jewish artists to find liberation in the French capital. Two new Parisian exhibitions celebrate the École de Paris
“We
were a band of children and scholars from the ‘heder,’ exhausted from
long years of analyzing talmudic texts. Having only just taken up pencil
and brush, we immediately started dissecting not only the world around
us but ourselves. Who were we? What was our place among the nations?
What was our culture? And what should our art be?” declared avant-garde
artist El Lissitzky in 1923, writing in the newspaper he started during
his studies in Berlin.
There’s
a reason why these lines appear in the catalog of the new exhibition
“Chagall, Modigliani, Soutine ... Paris as a School, 1905-1940,” one of
two exhibitions that have opened recently at Paris’ Musée d’art et
d’histoire du Judaïsme (Museum of Jewish Art and History). Both deal
from different angles with the so-called École de Paris, or School of
Paris (the second is discussed below).
The
critic Pierre Jaccard wrote: 'Not only do Jews lack a sense of color,
but also a sense of form. The Jewish race has always lacked talent for
the plastic arts'
This
was a nonhomogeneous school in which styles, influences and forms
intermingled, and it dominated the Paris art scene from the early
20th century until the onset of World War II.
“Paris
was the only place where it was possible to melt different streams … to
mix a modern cocktail of Viennese psychology, African sculpture,
American detective stories, neo-Catholicism, German technique, Italian
nihilism. Paris was the ‘Internationale’ of culture,” wrote American
critic Harold Rosenberg in 1942, in the monthly Partisan Review.
The
artists of Paris came from all over Europe, the United States, Asia and
Africa. They occupied the cheap studios in the La Ruche (“the Beehive”)
building or on Cité Falguière, in the streets near the Boulevard
Raspail and the bustling cafés of Montparnasse.
This
was a cosmopolitan ferment unique in the history of art. Among those
streaming to Paris, many were Jews from towns in Eastern Europe and the
Russian Empire. Bulgarian-French psychoanalyst Julia Kristeva wrote in
the book “Strangers to Ourselves” that for intellectuals and artists,
the exit to freedom was “an eruption of repression, which was expressed
in crossing a border.”
“‘Paris
as a School,’” says curator Pascale Samuel in a phone interview,
referring to the exhibit title, “is the way in which the artists from
Eastern Europe, who aspired to social, political and religious
emancipation, saw the city – those for whom the path to an artistic
career had been blocked because they were Jewish, because of the
‘numerus clausus’ or because of a ban against living in the big cities.
In Paris, they sought freedom to create, modernity and an exposure to
new artists. Their arrival in the city was an exit from the ghetto to
the varied communities of Montparnasse.”
How
does this exhibition differ from many past exhibitions about the School
of Paris? Right now, there’s also a small exhibition at the Tel Aviv
Museum of Art called “Visiting Master: Amedeo Modigliani, Among
Friends.”
“The
‘Paris as a School’ exhibition focuses only on Jews who were an
integral part of the Paris school, and mainly on those born between 1880
and 1885, the generation that arrived at the beginning of the century,
before 1915, and constituted the ‘first school.’ The war that erupted in
1914 changed their lives and helped their integration – mainly artists
such as [Ossip] Zadkine, [Moïse] Kisling, [Louis] Marcoussis, who joined
the army as part of [a Polish company in] the Foreign Legion and at the
end of the war received French citizenship.”
Yiddish in the corridors
About
200 artists, most of them foreigners, occupied La Ruche at the
beginning of the 20th century. It was a legendary building in the
Passage de Dantzig, built in 1902 by Gustave Eiffel, with 140 studios.
“Yiddish reigned in the corridors and between the floors,” Samuel
recounts. “In 1911, Marc Chagall arrived in Paris and settled there
together with sculptor Zadkine and artists Michel Kikoine and Chaïm
Soutine. It is said that Soutine, the native of a small village in
Belarus, knew only Yiddish and it was in La Ruche that he learned a few
new words in Russian.”
Chagall
was born to a Hasidic family in a town near Vitebsk in the Russian
Empire (today Belarus). However, because he was Jewish, he was not
accepted to the Imperial Academy in Saint Petersburg but only to the
drawing school of the Imperial School for the Preservation of the Arts.
In Montparnasse, he became friends with writer Blaise Cendrars and poet
Guillaume Apollinaire, and spent his days studying in the galleries of
the Louvre in front of works by Eugène Delacroix and Gustave Courbet.
When
he returned to Russia in 1914, World War I broke out, followed by the
Bolshevik Revolution. He was forced to remain in Vitebsk, where he
started an art school with artist Kazimir Malevich, one of the leaders
of the Russian avant-garde. Only in 1922 did Chagall return to Paris,
where he became a great success.
Most
La Ruche artists were not preoccupied with Jewish folklore, but the
artists Yosif Chaikov, Marek Szwarc and Henri Epstein – all Eastern
Europeans who had moved to Paris – founded a journal with the Hebrew
name “Mahmadim,” showcasing “the Jewish style in the plastic arts.”
Are the Jewish motifs reflected in the “Mahmadim” journal also present in the School of Paris artists?
“The
shtetl and the Bible are present across Chagall’s entire oeuvre. The
same is true of [Emmanuel] Mané-Katz. But some who joined La Ruche, such
as Pinchus Kremegne, Kikoine, Soutine and others, developed different
approaches, influenced by contemporary currents such as Cubism and
Fauvism, which dominated both the Salon d’Automne and Société des
Artistes Indépendants. These Jewish artists came to Paris to assimilate
into the international community of artists. The School of Paris was
nonhomogeneous, everyone followed their own unique path and contributed
their own touch. Soutine, for example, is considered the head of the
Expressionist school among his friends.”
Amedeo
Modigliani, an Italian Jew from Livorno, came to Montmartre in 1906,
where he worked alongside Pablo Picasso, Juan Gris and Kees van Dongen
in the Bateau-Lavoir workshops. He joined a group that abandoned “the
hill” in favor of Montparnasse on the left bank of the Seine, where
renting studios was cheaper and art met everyday life in bustling
establishments like Le Dôme Café, Café de la Rotonde and Le Select.
At
the beginning of his career in Paris, Modigliani practiced sculpture.
When he settled in Cité Falguière, he met with the “father of modern
sculpture,” the Romanian Constantin Brancusi, from whom he learned the
contours of abstract sculpture. Tuberculosis and alcohol forced
Modigliani to give up the demanding sculptural work, so he turned to
painting, focusing on portraits of his sculptor friends Jacques Lipchitz
and Chana Orloff, and painter Kisling.
Montparnasse
was important not only for its cafés – there were also vibrant
workshops like Kisling’s, where the poet Max Jacob, writer Jean Cocteau
and the painters André Derain and Gris met. In the 1920s, it was the
Bulgarian-Jewish painter Jules Pascin who hosted poets, writers and
artists – including Ernest Hemingway, who considered Pascin the “Prince
of Montparnasse.” But despite tasting artistic success, the brilliant
Pascin suffered from depression and alcoholism, and took his own life in
1930.
Before
the arrival of the Jewish wave, the French painter Georges Braque and
Picasso had invented Cubism – a revolutionary style for its time that
influenced disciplines such as architecture and music. The Cubists rose
to prominence with the support of the German-Jewish art dealer
Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler. The sculptor Lipshitz was also influenced by
Cubism, while the Expressionist Soutine impacted a range of Futurist,
Cubist and Abstract artists. In response to the monochromaticity of
Cubism, in 1912 the Ukraine-born Jewish artist Sonia Delaunay exhibited
paintings emphasizing bright colors and light.
But
the influx of Jewish artists into Paris, who were a kind of “enclave of
the other within the other,” according to Kristeva, also provoked waves
of antisemitism
typical of the nationalist movements of the 1920s. The art world wasn’t
spared. For example, in the July 1925 edition of Mercure de France, the
critic Fritz R. Vanderpyl asked, “Is there such a thing as Jewish
painting?” He called on his readers to visit all the halls of the Louvre
and to witness that, “except for one painting by Pissarro – the son of a
Portuguese Jew – there is no such thing as Jewish painting at all.”
The
critic Pierre Jaccard wrote in the same edition: “Not only do Jews lack
a sense of color, but also a sense of form. The Jewish race has always
lacked talent for the plastic arts. They are the only race in the world
that has left no trace of plastic artistic activity.”
In
1924, the General Assembly of the Salon des Indépendants (the annual
exhibition of the Société des Artistes Indépendants) decreed that “in
the 1925 exhibition, the French artists will be separated from the
foreign artists, and the latter will also be divided according to
nationality and race.”
Claims
of a lack of talent that is “typical of the Jewish race” failed to hide
the envy of certain French artists, given the growing success of Jewish
artists such as Soutine, Pascin and Lipshitz.
In
response to the increasing antisemitism, art critic André Warnod came
out in defense of the foreign artists who had been barred from the Salon
des Indépendants in 1925 and wrote in an article for the journal
Comoedia: “How can we consider as undesirable an artist for whom Paris
is a promised land, the blessed land of artists and sculptors?”
And
so, the “School of Paris” was born, in direct response to the various
attacks, referring to all those foreign artists who flocked from all
over the world to Paris and saw it as their school.
The
second exhibition at the Paris museum, “Hersh Fenster and the Lost
Shtetl of Montparnasse,” is a kind of memorial to 84 Jewish artists,
also members of the School of Paris, who perished in the Holocaust in
France. Only a few of their works have survived.
Hersh
Fenster, a Galician-born Yiddish journalist who came to Paris in 1925,
worked as the secretary of the writer Sholem Asch and wrote in Yiddish
magazines about the development of contemporary Jewish culture. In the
late ’30s, when tens of thousands of Jewish refugees who had fled the
Nazi menace arrived in France, he opened Foyer amical on Rue des Rosiers
(in the heart of the Jewish Quarter), which served as a meeting place
for refugees from Central and Eastern Europe, including many artists.
The
humble spot operated a canteen, and a small hall was used for lectures,
concerts and celebrations. At the outbreak of World War II, Fenster was
arrested by the Vichy administration, sent to labor camps for two years
but managed to escape and flee to Switzerland.
When
he returned to Paris after the war, he discovered that an entire
community had disappeared: the community of Jewish artists of
Montparnasse, the people of the legendary cafés, the people of La Ruche
and Cité Falguière. Montparnasse’s artistic shtetl had been erased.
In
the book “Undzere farpainikte Kinstler” (“Our Martyred Artists”) that
Fenster self-published in Yiddish in 1951, he recalled the vanished
community. For the introduction to the book, Chagall – who found refuge
in the United States during the war – added an impressive poem.
After
careful research, Fenster tracked down the names and works of 84 Jewish
artists who perished: Not only those like Soutine and Otto Freundlich,
who gained recognition, but also many whose artistry was cut short and
only a small part of it is still held in private collections or select
museums around the world.
In
honor of this exhibition, the book by Fenster, who died in 1964, was
translated from Yiddish into French. The author’s son, Ariel, who
continues his father’s research, made his private archive available to
the museum.
Asked
if there were important artists among the 84, Samuel notes that there
were important but not particularly well-known artists among them, “such
as Jacob Macznik and David Brainin. Some were recognized in their
countries of origin after the war. For instance, the Czech Georges Kars,
or the Hungarian István Farkas. What’s so special about Fenster’s
careful research is the presence of oral and written testimony about
other artists they knew.”